Prisco tankers complete first passage of Northern Sea Route
MOSCOW. Nov 6 (Interfax) - The tankers of the Primorsk Shipping Corporation (Prisco) have for the first time sailed through the Northern Sea Route (NSR), completing their Arctic voyages, the company said in a press release.
The first tank to reach its port of destination was Zaliv Amursky, which arrived at Antwerp on October 22 to unload diesel fuel delivered via the NSR, completing its first Arctic voyage that began on September 18.
Zaliv Amursky is the first Prisco ship to completely switch to Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) from traditional paper navigational charts.
The second Prisco tanker to make the Arctic voyage, Zaliv Baikal, left the NSR on October 30 after rounding Cape Dezhnev on its way to the Korean port of Yosu, which it is expected to reach on November 12. Zaliv Baikal is expected to be the second Prisco ship to make the switch completely to ECDIS.
Prisco specializes in shipping liquid and bulk cargo, provides services to oil terminals and ships liquefied natural gas (LNG). The company has a fleet of 11 ice-class tankers with combined deadweight of 1.108 million tonnes, built in 2007-2009 at shipyards in South Korea. The average age of the fleet is 4.5 years.
Prisco also has joint ventures that operate a marine ice-class tugboat, catamarans for servicing offshore oil drilling platforms and an LNG shipping vessel.
Market players say that company management, including chairman Alexander Kirilichev, control about 75% of Prisco stock. According to the list of company affiliates as of September 30, 55.47% of shares in the shipper are held by the Bank of New York, 19.92% is held by Apington Investments Limited (British Virgin Islands) and 19.13% is held by Isardia Holdings Limited (Cyprus).
